Former Rotherham striker Danny Ward has outlined his reasons for joining Cardiff City and revealed that he spoke to Town before opting for a reunion with his former Millers boss Neil Warnock in Wales.

The 26-year-old’s £1.6 million switch to the Bluebirds, which had been expected for a number of weeks, was finally confirmed on Friday.

As reported at the time, Town initially made a bid for Ward in January with reports that they had made a what was described as a "substantial offer" during the summer emerging during the week.

“I’d worked with Neil Warnock before and loved my time at Rotherham with him,” Ward explained to the Sheffield Star. "He was brilliant, and so were Blacky [Warnock’s assistant Kevin Blackwell] and Jeppo [coach Ronnie Jepson].

“I knew a few of the Cardiff lads as well. Everything seemed to fit. That’s what swayed me to go for Cardiff rather than Ipswich.

“Obviously, Cardiff is a long, long way away, but when you know some of the people down there and you know the manager can get teams promoted because he’s done it in the past, it makes moving easier. It just seemed like a great opportunity.

“I had a couple of conversations with Ipswich. But Cardiff were in and the fact Neil was there was a big thing because we’d worked so well together before.

“He kept Rotherham up in 2016 and I know what he’s about. I’m good friends with Jon Stead and Paddy Kenny, who’ve worked with him before and done great things with him.

“They don’t have a bad word to say about him, and I’d experienced that myself. That’s why Cardiff was the one for me.”

It seems likely that Ward’s conversations with the Blues came prior to Town securing the £1 million signing of Joe Garner from Rangers.

Photo: TWTD

Michael11 added 09:23 - Jun 26 Would've been a good signing. Think he's more of a natural Murphy replacement than Garner but if he doesn't want to come then there's not much you can do. At least we put the money in to get him which is positive. I'd still like to see another striker signed up and send Moore out on loan.
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midastouch added 09:56 - Jun 26 Cheers Cat. Some of them (Budgie fans) are a good crack (believe it or not!) and we have some good banter, but some of them do my head in as they sound like broken records! Even when we were in the Premiership (many moons ago!) and flying some of them still wouldn't give us any credit at that time! I'm happy to have a laugh and a joke with them as it's all part of the banter (and enjoy that side of it) but some of them are 100% blinkered and are 100% adamant we are rubbish (end of discussion!) so for them it's a case of you have to fight fire with fire! ;-) I've learned to live with it down the years! It cuts both ways, it's just in recent years the cuts my end have been getting deeper and deeper and I'm running out of bandage! I thought Marcus was going to be our band aid but he's not living up to expectations! I'd be embarrassed if I was him. Delia Smith is worth about 20 million, and he's worth many times more than that. Yet under Delia they got into the Prem and we haven't. And even when we had a golden chance he didn't back Mick that Jan so we lost our top two position and were lucky to scrape 6th place by the end of the season. If your chairman won't back you in Jan when you are looking in with a real shout of automatic promotion what chance have you got!

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alanbrazil added 10:30 - Jun 26 @midastouch we bid 2 million for him as reported by Stuart Watson who works on the eadt just accept the fact the lad wanted to work with warnock and not use it as an excuse to attack The club unless you know the facts, if come August we haven't signed anyone then have a pop
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cranky_old_tractor added 10:31 - Jun 26 OK...seems like it was not meant to be - move on but spend the money to get the Hibs midfielder and Huws
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midastouch added 12:02 - Jun 26 Fair enough Alan. 2 million is more realistic, I will certainly concede that. Ultimately I just want to see us succeed and every time we get linked with a seven figure player it never seems to happen. What is the stumbling block? I don't necessarily buy the I wanted to work with such and such, I think the truth usually boils down to the fact that one club is prepared to pay higher wages. We shouldn't be held ransom to players, but I don't know what our pay structure (as you rightly say I don't know all the facts, I'm just a frustrated fan trying to piece things together - but say what you like there does seem to a pattern emerging, i.e. we are linked with a player, and they choose to go elsewhere) but it does seem whatever it is, it does seem to be a barrier to us attracting the sort of talent that we need to compete properly at this level.

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BlueandTruesince82 added 12:51 - Jun 26 ESP says our bid was 2 mil.plus the 2 lads on loan. Pretty fait to me that
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blueboy1981 added 15:43 - Jun 26 People - Accept the fact that ITFC are no longer a Club that many players (looking to progress) will be tempted to join. There was a time when almost any player would have joined, and played for Managers such as Sir Bobby, because the Club played 'the beautiful game' - not any more. We used to play FOOTBALL the way it should be played - now it's HOOFBALL and under this Manager it will continue - because it is blatantly obvious to all, except those who care not to see it - or haven't a clue of what they are watching. And there are some .... !!! - of both.

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Seasider added 19:03 - Jun 26 Being one of teams who bookies think will be relegated doesn't help the recruitment drive either!
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